Tim Allen, Martin Short, Elizabeth Mitchell, Wendy Crewson, Judge Reinhold, Alan Arkin, Ann-Margret, Michael Dorn, Kevin Pollak, Peter Boyle, Spencer Breslin, Abigail Breslin, Jay Thomas, Aisha Tyler, Eric Lloyd

Remember when the words ‘Walt Disney’ used to mean solid feel-good live-action entertainment of the highest quality? Yeah, it was quite a few years back – just before the company’s motto changed to ‘greedy political corporate who must churn out half a dozen mediocre family movies each year’.

Granted, ''The Santa Clause'' films aren’t terrible movies, in fact they’re quite entertaining, but compared to the legendary likes of ‘’The Shaggy Dog’’ (the original, not the Tim Allen remake); ‘’The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes’’; ‘’Escape to Witch Mountain’’; ‘’The Love Bug’’ and ‘’Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ‘’, they’re another reminder that Walt has definitely left the Castle.

The live-action films Disney makes today just don’t have as much thought put into them – ‘’Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen’’? ‘’Flubber’’? – as the barrage of family films Mr. Disney supervised in his day had. These days, they seem to think that simply casting Tim Allen in something, drawing up a funny poster, and having someone fall down a set of stairs is quality entertainment. Ah, not quite.

There’s one main joke in the ''Santa Clause'' movies – it’s that Tim Allen, the wise-cracking everyday suburban dad, has to be the new Father Christmas. And if you’re under the age of twelve, you’ll probably have wet your pants watching the former ‘’Home Improvement’’ star getting used to his bigger tummy, big white beard and new mode of transportation (that’d be a sleigh).

And whilst it’s great that kids get a kick out of these movies, after all it’s the kids these movies are made for, it’d be nice if Disney injected a little more laughs into them for the big kids, too – something they’ve been known to do with some of their animated/CGI films – you know, some of those ‘over their head’ jokes for good measure? But instead, they’re intent on staying very silly, juvenile and not particularly clever.

The third film isn’t a shade on the first two movies – it just doesn’t have the humour, or as good a storyline – but again, the little ones should enjoy it enough.

This time, Santa Claus (Allen) is tricked into giving up his title to Jack Frost (Martin Short) who proceeds to then turn the North Pole into a tourist attraction. The story itself may be original, but it’s fair to say there’s a dash of ‘’It’s a Wonderful Life’’ in here.

There are some great moments in this film, particularly the scenes where Santa travels back in time and near runs into a version of himself pre-beard and belly from the first film. There’s also some great supporting players too – Alan Arkin, Ann-Margret, Spencer Breslin (boy, has this kid grown up!), Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Elizabeth Mitchell and, of course, Short, who hams it up as the ice-cold Jack Frost.
The laughs and fun are patchy though, and the screenplays a bit of a mess, and those that know better will be trying to force their littlies into a viewing of ‘’Mary Poppins’’ as a follow-up, just to teach them the difference between good and great kids’ entertainment.

DVD extras include a reasonably funny blooper reel; a feature where Christmas songs play over montages of clips from the film trilogy; an alternate opening sequence; a featurette on the make-up sessions of Mitchell and Short’s characters; a piece on Allen and Short (who’ve actually worked together before – on Disney’s ‘’Jungle2Jungle’’); a music video; and a commentary from the director. Plenty of stuff to keep the kids amused.

Rating :
Reviewer : Clint Morris